With Sunday’s victory over the hapless Bengals, the Titans moved to 2-0 for the first time since their 1999 Super Bowl season.
The other AFC South teams haven’t been so fortunate. The 0-2 Jaguars, a popular Super Bowl favorite, have struggled as a result of a slew of injuries to their offensive linemen. The Colts are 1-1, but are facing their own share of adversity in the form of the latest injury to Bob Sanders. The Texans are, um, the Texans.
Are the stars aligning for a special season in Nashville?
Entering the season, I picked the Titans to finish 10-6 with a second consecutive wild card appearance. Of course, my opinions appear generous compared to the predictions of others, who firmly believed that the Titans would take a step backwards in 2008.
While media forecasters were fawning over the potential surrounding the Jaguars, expecting the Colts to remain the Colts and for the Texans to surprise this year, the expectations surrounding the Titans were much lower.
To the surprise dismay of many, the Titans appear to be the team with the leg up on the competition in the early stages of the race to the AFC South crown. Chris Johnson is as good as advertised and the physical nature of the Titans’ defense is going to continue to leave opponents bruised and battered.
Of course, there’s still a long ways to go. The dreaded injury bug can rear its head at anytime and play a big role in the outcome of the divisional race.
The Colts are still an extremely talented team that knows what it takes to win and the Jaguars, despite their struggles, can’t be counted out. The Texans still have enough weapons on offense to make things interesting, if they can get their secondary together and find some type of consistent running game.
So what do you guys think? Will the Titans fall back to earth, or are we headed towards another season like 1999?